Tri-Cities dad arrested for 4-year-old daughter’s suspected fentanyl overdose in motel
Police have arrested a 30-year-old father accused of allowing his 4-year-old daughter to have access to some deadly fentanyl pills.
Joseph Walker of Kennewick was found at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at a home on the 100 block of Cedarwood Court in Richland by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office Pro-Act Team and U.S. Marshals fugitive task force members.
It’s been about a week since Walker was charged with first-degree manslaughter and violating a protection order following the girl’s death. A $500,000 nationwide warrant was issued when the charges were filed.
He is accused of being in the bathroom with the girl’s mother, Judy Bribiescas, 39, when the girl reportedly swallowed two pills believed to be the toxic opioid.
Bribiescas has been in the Benton County jail since last week, and also is charged with one count of first-degree manslaughter.
An autopsy was conducted earlier this week, and the Benton County coroner is waiting for more information before determining that fentanyl caused her death.
Walker allegedly lived at the Econo Lodge on the 300 block of Ely Street with Bribiescas along with two of the couple’s children, according to court documents.
A no-contact order had been issued in July 2022 to keep Walker away from Bribiescas.
However, security footage from the motel showed Walker, Bribiescas and the children walk into the motel room at 8:20 p.m. on Dec. 27, court documents said.
Their 8-year-old son told investigators the couple was in the bathroom for a lengthy period of time. Police previously said they believed they were using drugs at the time.
While they were in the bathroom, 4-year-old Ryleigh swallowed two pills and had another was later found stuck in her nose, according to court documents.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than morphine and hundreds time stronger than street-level heroin, federal officials have said.
Bribiescas told police she found the girl unresponsive and called 911.
Security video shows Walker open the motel room door with his daughter in his arms. Before he walks out, he hands the girl to Bribiescas then runs to a nearby truck, said the documents.
The first Kennewick police officer to arrive tried using naloxone, a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses, but it didn’t work.
And Trios Southridge Hospital doctors said she was cold to the touch when she arrived, court documents said.
They found two mostly intact pills, along with multiple pill fragments in her stomach. The pill from her nose was pink and similar to what is commonly known as “Skittles” fentanyl.
When police searched the motel, they reported finding more fentanyl pills.
Walker has a history of violating protection orders. In July, he was sentenced to just over a year in prison as part of a drug offender sentencing alternative.
According to court documents it was his fourth conviction for violating a protection order since July 28.
This story was originally published January 4, 2024 at 5:09 PM.